Kaua'i Me A River Part 24

"Yeah?"

"Farrah and Shadow had a falling out. Seems Farrah got in Shadow's face about something to do with Hatch." He looked over at me as if hoping I'd talked to Farrah and could fill in some details.

"What? Don't look at me. I've been on Kaua'i." But I had a hunch I knew what it was about. And bless Farrah. I couldn't wait to see her.

"So anyway, Shadow moved to a women's shelter in Wailuku and she's applied for unemployment benefits."

"Don't you have to have had a job in the first place to get unemployment?" I said.

"Yeah, but she's saying she worked at Farrah's store."

"You're kidding. But Farrah's a sole proprietor. She doesn't have employees."

"Bingo," he said. "So now Shadow's gotten her in big trouble. She told them Farrah made her work off the clock and she paid her under the table. She also claimed Farrah's been doing it for years with Beatrice."

"But Bea just comes in a few hours a week. And Farrah pays her in groceries," I said.

"I know. But the State of Hawaii doesn't see it like that. You're supposed to pay minimum wage, and workman's comp and taxes and stuff."

"Great. So Shadow's gotten her in trouble with the state."

"Unfortunately, that's the least of it," he said.

I looked over and he looked genuinely troubled.

"What else?" I said.

"Shadow's decided she doesn't want Farrah to have Moke after all."

"What?"

"Yeah. I guess she called Farrah a bunch of names and said she'd changed her mind."

"But they had a hanai agreement," I said. "We had the baptism."

"It's her kid. She can do what she wants."

By then we were approaching Pa'ia. "You want me to drop you at the Gadda?" he said.

"Yes, please."

Farrah looked positively haggard. Luckily, there weren't any customers when I got there. I went behind the counter and gripped her in a tight hug.

"I heard," I said. "I'm so, so sorry."

"I loved him so much," she whispered. "I only had him two weeks but I loved him as if he was my very own."

"I know." Her shoulders shook with her sobbing. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and went over and locked the front door.

Screw the pot-head craving the Snickers bar. This was a family crisis.

I called Hatch that night. I wasn't sure how it would go. Could we get through this or had we finally reached the tipping point?

"I'm back," I said.

"Hey, I wanted to call, but... anyhow, did you hear?"

"About Farrah and Moke? Yeah, I heard."

"I feel real bad," he said. "Kind of like it was my fault or something."

"Ya think? She and Shadow were friends, Hatch. You two hooking up was just-"

"What? You think I was doing that? Look, can I see you? I don't want to talk about this on the phone."

"I don't know, Hatch. This is serious. I've just been through h.e.l.l with this thing with my mother, and now you sneaking around like this. Farrah's my best friend and you've betrayed us both."

"Stop. Let me come up there. I'll only stay five minutes."

"I'm not in the mood for a sales job, Hatch."

"No sales job. Just hear me out. I think I deserve that much."

"How about I come down there? Steve's making dinner for Steven up here tonight and I'd rather talk about this without an audience."

When I got to Hatch's he'd already poured two gla.s.ses of wine. "You want some cheese and crackers?" he said. "How about chips? I've got some taro chips around here somewhere."

He looked trashed. Two-day stubble; dark circles under his eyes. His slumped shoulders made him look two inches shorter.

"Okay," he said. "Before you start yelling, let me explain what happened. And then I never want to talk about it again. Deal?"

"Go ahead."

"That girl started coming on to me from day one. When Farrah was here she kept her in line, but after Farrah left, the little b.i.t.c.h put on a full-court press. I told her to cool it and she promised she would."

"I wouldn't call her little lingerie show after the baptism exactly *cooling it'."

"I know. She was calling my bluff. I'd warned her if she pulled anything in front of my friends I'd kick her to the curb. But she used those kids like hostages."

It added up.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I was stunned when she came parading out like that. You may think I'm just a dumb smoke-eater but I know when I'm being played. When you left, I was fighting mad at you."

"Mad at me? What'd you have to be mad about?" I said.

"Mad that you had so little faith in me. Mad that you thought I was such a dumb-a.s.s that I'd wreck us for the likes of her."

"I guess I underestimated you."

"d.a.m.n straight you did. That girl's bad news, Pali. She may be able to take that kid away from Farrah, but I've put her name up on emergency services radar. One complaint, one nine-one-one call, one hang-nail on any of those kids and I'll have child services on her a.s.s like white on rice."

That was the Hatch I knew and loved.

Making up may be the only upside to a having a fight. But in the right hands, it's the best upside there is.

EPILOGUE.

The Kaua'i Police Department got to work unraveling Arthur Chesterton's cover-up of the 1981 murder of Marta Warner Wilkerson and Robert Allen Wilkerson. As it turned out, the mayor got his wish to have his time run out before he could be taken to task. He died of a lung infection before charges were filed and before they could strip him of his pension.

The medical examiner ran a secondary tox screen on samples taken from Peggy Chesterton's body. He determined that although the anti-freeze, or ethylene glycol, markers had vastly deteriorated due to refrigeration, he could reasonably state she most probably had been poisoned prior to her fatal accident.

Sunny Wilkerson was indicted on one count of first-degree murder and a second count of attempted murder. Valentine declined to represent her, citing conflict of interest. If Sunny is found guilty she won't be allowed to collect her share of Phil Wilkerson's inheritance until she's served her time. And even then, probably Peggy's two kids will sue her in civil court for every last dime.

I'm at peace with my decision on what to do with Phil's money. I intend to have a double gravestone made for my mom and Robert and have it placed in the Maui cemetery where Auntie Mana is buried. I'm going to have it engraved, Beloved Parents of Pali and Jeff. I figure if I can blow off the stupid name my father gave me, I can also blow off acknowledging our biological relationship.

I'm going to take some of the money and pay off my mortgage and buy myself a new car. Why not? Phil never gave me squat, so the SOB can make up for it now.

I'm going to put the bulk of the money in a trust for Phil's other kids. I've talked with most of them, and, as much as it pains me to admit it, I agree with Phil on one thing: they're spoiled rotten. How does the law describe it? Fruit of the poison tree? Yeah, that's them.

Finally, telling my brother Jeff about how our mother died was the hardest conversation I've ever had. I hated telling him on the phone, but I had weddings coming up and I'd blown my airfare budget going back and forth to Kaua'i. His silence made the revelation even harder since I wanted to hug him but twenty-four hundred miles of ocean stood between us.

"I want to come over when you install the gravestone," he said.

"I'd love that."

"And then let's spend a little time together."

"Great. I'll make up the guest room."

"No, I've slept on that nasty sofa-bed of yours," he said. "I think we should get away."

"Get away? To where?"

"I think we should spend a few days in the city."

"San Francisco?"

"No. Who wants to hang out in the fog and rain?" he said. "I'm talking Honolulu."

And so Honolulu it will be.

Acknowledgements.

Every book begins as a tiny kernel of an idea and grows into a few hundred pages of love, sweat and tears. This book turned out to be a lot of all three, especially sweat, but I thank everyone for hanging in there with me.

My first shout out goes to Roger and Diana Paul. They're big Kaua'i enthusiasts and generous to a fault. Thanks again for everything.

I also want to thank Sam and Ann Densler who trooped along without complaint as I researched every tourist trap and hidey hole on the island. I hope you enjoyed lunch at the Kong Lung Historic Market Center in as much as I did.

Mahalo to Preston Myers of Safari Helicopter on Kaua'i for a never-to-be-forgotten look at the entire island, but especially the bird's eye view of the Pali Coast.

I never tire of thanking my friends, early readers and supporters, including (but thankfully not limited to) Sue Cook, Wendy Lester, Linda Mitch.e.l.l, KC Spiker, and my dear, long-suffering husband, Tom Haberer.

And finally, a big mahalo to my fellow writers at misterio press (no caps, but they're all capital writers) Shannon Esposito, Ka.s.sandra Lamb, Kirsten Weiss, Catie Rhodes, Stacy Green, and Kathy Owen. Please check out our website at http://www.misteriopress.com and see the the fruits of their labors.

Most of all, a big couldn't-do-it-without-you thank you to YOU, my readers. Please visit my Facebook page "JoAnn Ba.s.sett's Author Page" or my website, http://www.joannba.s.sett.com and see what's new in the "Islands of Aloha Mystery Series."

Mahalo!

The "Islands of Aloha Mystery Series".

Maui Widow Waltz.

Livin' Lahaina Loca.

Lana'i of the Tiger.

Kaua'i Me a River.

O'ahu Lonesome Tonight (coming soon!).

Also by JoAnn Ba.s.sett:.

Mai Tai b.u.t.terfly.

Maui Widow Waltz.

Livin' Lahaina Loca.

Lana'i of the Tiger.